Donald Trump rolls back Obama law designed to prevent another credit crunch
Vote keeps Republican president's campaign promise to spur economic growth by cutting regulation
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Your support makes all the difference.The US House of Representatives has passed bipartisan legislation to roll back bank rules introduced in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, securing a major legislative victory for Donald Trump.
The vote, which keeps the Republican president’s promise to spur economic growth by cutting regulation, eases some of the Dodd-Frank rules.
“We’re going to be doing a big number on Dodd-Frank,” Mr Trump promised, just weeks after taking office last year. He complained the regulations choked lending, cramped the economy and hampered job creation.
However, it is a far cry from the repeal Mr Trump pledged on the campaign trail. The legislation leaves the core of the Dodd-Frank provisions intact.
The bill, which was approved 258-159, raises the threshold at which banks are considered systemically risky and subject to stricter oversight from $50bn to $250bn (£37bn to £187bn).
It also eases trading, lending and capital rules for banks with less than $10bn (£7bn) in assets.
But the legislation does not weaken the top US consumer watchdog which was created by Dodd-Frank, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which Republicans have consistently attacked as they say it oversteps its mandate.
Nor does the bill weaken Wall Street's obligation to comply with the so-called Volcker Rule, which bans banks from making risky bets with their own money, or limit the ability of regulators to apply stricter rules to large institutions they deem critical to the financial system.
White House officials hailed the legislation as another “milestone” in the Trump administration’s mission to “revitalise the US economy” by lifting barriers to business.
They said Mr Trump intends to sign the bill into law at a formal ceremony later this week.
Additional reporting by agencies
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